Pakistan Govt Slams Obama

Pakistan criticised the Democratic election contender Barack Obama over his warning that as president he might order military strikes against Al Qaeda targets in the country’s border areas. As protesters burned the US flag in Karachi, Khusheed Kasuri, Pakistan’s foreign minister, said: “It’s a very irresponsible statement, that’s all I can say. As the election campaign in America is heating up, we would not like American candidates to fight their elections and contest elections at our expense.”Obama, in a speech on Wednesday, said President George Bush had chosen the wrong battlefield in Iraq and should have concentrated on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He said he would not hesitate to use force to destroy those who posed a threat to the United States, and if the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, would not act, he would. A Pakistan foreign statement, meanwhile, said President Bush had described the prospect of US strikes against Al Qaeda in Pakistan as “unsavoury”. Bush made the comments to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a telephone call to congratulate Pakistanis ahead of the 60th anniversary of their independence on August 14, the statement said.